Wednesday, September 5, 2018

My #MeToo Story

The MeToo movement has been showing a lot of traction on social media recently, and I feel the need to tell my story. I faced verbal/emotional abuse on 2 separate occasions. The first time was in kindergarten, while the second happened in 6th grade. Both times left me scarred emotionally, with exceedingly bad social anxiety and suicidal depression. I have the most impossible time actually trusting authority figures because of both experiences.

The first time that the abuse happened was in kindergarten came from a teacher who used fire alarms to scare us kids into compliance, and went completely ballistic over me scribbling when engaging in art. Who does this to a 6-year-old? If you're that young, scribbling is completely expected. There's no reason for someone to scream about something as minor as that. Thank God my parents got me out of there. I can't stress enough about speaking up, especially when going through an experience like this.

The second time was in 6th grade, with a 1-to-1 para-professional being verbally abusive towards anyone that he felt disrespected him, which included the vice-principle. He baited me at times and humiliated me with unnecessary screaming fits in front of my classmates. I really felt guilty whenever a classmate decided to risk a detention just to tell him off. The worst came in the form of him bad-mouthing me in his native language (which was Spanish, 1 of the 3 languages I can speak conversationally. Really stupid on his part.), not realizing that I knew what he was saying. The good news was that the district was aware of his actions and was in the process of getting him terminated.

Those times were incredibly difficult to get through, but their effects have made my life a living hell at times. Being bullied by the adults who were charged with ensuring that I was in a safe environment was the worst kind of bullying to have gone through. It's not an experience I wish on my fans and/or detractors. If you have any stories make them known, and keep in mind that you're not alone.